U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Syrians

By

Jay Solomon

Updated Aug. 30, 2011 7:36 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration imposed new sanctions on two of Syria's main interlocutors with the West, intensifying U.S. efforts to isolate President Bashar al-Assad for his regime's bloody crackdown on political dissent.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday that it had blacklisted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, a former ambassador to Washington, and Bouthaina Shaaban, a top political-and-media adviser to Mr....